Progress 03/01/06 to 02/28/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The USDA NRI grant titled Feeding Patterns, Dietary Intake, and Overweight in Minority Families with Preschoolers completed Year 5 on February 28, 2011. During the duration of this project, we conducted three mealtime observations on 145 Head Start families (58 African-American; 87 Hispanics) for a total of 435 observations. Each observation was audio/video recorded. Coding of the audio/video recordings are complete for the first 80 families (out of 145) chosen to be equally split on weight status (normal and overweight), ethnicity (AA and H), and gender (male and female). Coding will continue for the remainder of the families with funding from a new USDA /AFRI grant which began on February 1, 2011. Results from the observational analyses on the 80 families are consistent with earlier findings in our questionnaire studies. Observations show that 85 percent of the mothers with the most indulgent parenting styles (those who engaged in less than ten influence attempts per meal and who were above the mean on positive affect) had overweight /obese children, although only half of the children in this sample were overweight or obese. Interestingly, 85 percent of these highly indulgent mothers were Hispanic. Further analyses of other influence strategies and directives in the observations are currently underway. A two-fold plan was developed and implemented to provide parents with information on the study through the Families, Food, and Fitness website. A short article was uploaded which includes information about parental feeding derived from this observational research. The goal was to help parents understand how they can facilitate the socialization of healthy eating in their developing child and decrease their child's obesity risk. A brief discussion is provided in the article containing the following information: 1) how authoritarian feeding styles (termed overly controlling in the article) interfers with the child's sensitivity to internal fullness cues; 2) how indulgent feeding styles (termed indulgent feeding in the article) leads to overeating in young children and poor self-regulation of energy intake; and 3) how responsive feeding (also known as authoritative feeding styles) helps children develop sensitivity to their internal cues, as well as develop preferences for healthy foods. In conjunction with the article, a short video (11 minutes) was produced and uploaded to the website. The video includes a narrator, experts who were interviewed in short segments, and a series of scenarios on responsive, indulgent, and overly controlling feeding with a mother and two children. In the video, the same information was provided as in the article but in an attractive and engaging piece that is fun to watch as well as educational for parents. This video illustrates common situations that occur during mealtime (for example, when a child doesn't want to try a new food, refuses to eat what they are given, or asks for something different to eat). This information is provided to the parents through various eating scenarios, narration, and interviews with researchers. PARTICIPANTS: Our team includes the following collaborators: Dr. Sheryl O. Hughes (PD at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX), Dr. Thomas G. Power (chair of the Human Development Department at Washington State University), Dr. Susan L. Johnson (Director of the Children's Eating Laboratory at the University of Colorado Denver), Dr. Richard Boles (Pediatric Psychologist at the University of Colorado Denver), and Dr. Suzanne Goodell (Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University). The team also includes Andrea Jaramillo (a Spanish speaking staff member) and Kimberly Williams who are knowledgeable about the Hispanic and African American families who participated in this study. Our staff also includes Kirsten Vollrath (an RD who is helping with the dietary data collected in this study). TARGET AUDIENCES: The targeted audiences for this project are families with young children. The information provided to the Families, Food, and Fitness extension website has been useful for providing important information about how to feed young children in order to reduce the risk of childhood overweight and obesity. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The short article and video that can be viewed on the Families, Food, and Fitness website (http://www.extension.org/pages/Smart_Start:_Guiding_Your_Child_to_a_ Lifetime_of_Healthy_Eating) is being used by USDA extension personnel across the country. These informational tools are being used to help parents understand how to help their children develop a good relationship with food and reduce the risk of overweight and obesity. These tools go beyond the traditional approach of telling parents what to feed their children. These tools explain how to interact with their child around food.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 03/01/09 to 02/28/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The USDA NRI grant titled Feeding Patterns, Dietary Intake, and Overweight in Minority Families with Preschoolers completed Year 4 on February 28, 2010. Our observational coding system to be used with 435 audio/video recordings of 145 Head Start families during dinner is complete. Coding of the audio/video recordings are underway at the University of Colorado Denver with a targeted completion date of December 31, 2010 for the first 80 families. These 80 families were chosen as follows: 40 Hispanic children - half at normal weight and half above the 85th percentile for weight with equal representation by gender; 40 African-American children - half at normal weight and half above the 85th percentile for weight with equal representation by gender. This will allow us to examine differences in observed parent-child interactions by ethnicity, gender, and weight categories. Digital photos of the dinner plates (parents and children) are currently being processed by registered dietitions to determine gram amounts of each food on the plate, portion sizes at the beginning of the meal and amount consumed during the meal (including nutrient content and energy density). Targeted completion date for processing of the dignital photos is December 31, 2010. PARTICIPANTS: Our team includes the following collaborators: Dr. Sheryl O. Hughes (PD at the Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine - Houston, TX) Dr. Thomas G. Power (chair of the Human Development Department at Washington State University) Dr. Susan L. Johnson (Director of the Children's Eating Laboratory at the University of Colorado Denver) Dr. Richard Boles (Pediatric Psychologist at the University of Colorado Denver) Dr. Suzie Goodell (Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University) TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Using measures of parent emotional behaviors derived from live coding of families during the dinner meal, the relationship between the observed emotional climate of the meal, self-reported parental feeding styles, and the weight status of the children were examined among 159 low-income Head Start families from Houston, TX. Average age of the children was 4.4 years equally distributed across gender. Families were observed during dinner on 3 separate occasions. At the end of the third observation, parents completed the feeding style questionnaire (CFSQ) and children were measured for height and weight. MANOVAs were used to evaluate differences across the parent-reported feeding style categories (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and uninvolved) on observed measures of parent positive affect, parent negative affect, parent intrusion, parent detachment and cognitive stimulation. Authoritarian parents were significantly more negative and intrusive with their children during the dinner meal compared to authoritative and indulgent parents. The uninvolved parents were significantly more detached with their children during the dinner meal compared to authoritative and authoritarian parents. In addition, the indulgent and uninvolved parents provided significantly less cognitive stimulation compared to authoritarian parents. Child BMI z scores in this sample were as follows: authoritative (n = 32) 0.55; authoritarian (n = 46) 0.59; indulgent (n= 48) 0.91; uninvolved (n = 33) 1.05. Results suggest that the emotional climate of the dinner meal may play an important part in how parents socialize their children around eating during mealtime. Results also suggest that parents self-reported feeding styles may be a proxy for the emotional climate of the dinner meal, which may in turn influence the child's eating behaviors and weight status.
Publications
- Hughes, Power, Papaioannou, Cross, Nicklas, & Hall (2010). Emotional climate, feeding behaviors, and feeding styles: An observational analysis of the dinner meal in Head Start families (under review).
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Progress 03/01/08 to 02/28/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The USDA NRI grant entitled Feeding Patterns, Dietary Intake, and Overweight in Minority Families with Preschoolers completed Year 3 on February 28, 2009. We have ended data collection and have complete data on a total of 145 Head Start families with three observations per family. We have audio/video recorded DVDs on the 145 families (58 African-American; 87 Hispanic) for a total of 435 recorded dinner meals. In addition, we have live observational coding on the emotional climate of the family meal and behavioral interactions between the targeted caregiver and the Head Start child. Digital photographs of dinner plates have been taken on the caregiver and the child for each of 435 observations. Plate waste has been weighed and detailed recipes for each dinner observation have been obtained. This information is being processed by a registered dietitian to determine portion sizes of foods placed on each dinner plate, food meal patterns (food groups), nutrient content, energy density of the foods served and eaten during the dinner meal, and gram amounts of food eaten by each caregiver and child. Completed parent-report questionnaires include assessments of parent feeding styles, parent personality, parent emotions and affect, parent depressive symptoms, parent stress, child temperament, and child self-regulation of intake. Height and weight measurements have been collected on all participants to determine body mass index. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
A multi-pass observational coding system has been developed to be used with the 435 audio/video records. The first pass coding system is designed to investigate all conversations and vocalizations during the dinner meal between all family members present at the meal. The second pass coding system is designed to examine bi-directional influence strategies on dietary intake between the caregiver and child during the dinner meal. This coding system includes mutiple interactional components such as what behavior is desired by the initiator of the interaction (e.g., eat all the food on the plate, eat less food, don't eat), verbal and non-verbal strategies used to get the person to eat (e.g., telling someone to eat, giving choice, physically intervening), and the affect of the initiator during the interaction. The third pass coding system includes an examination of the structure of the meal (e.g., dog barking, children up and down during the meal, chaotic environments). Coding of the 435 DVDs will begin this summer. Gold standard tapes have been coded and a coding manual developed. Key messages for parents to prevent obesity in children have also been developed and are available through the national Cooperative Extension system at http://ag.udel/extension/fam/obeisty/ChildhoodObesity.htm. As results become available from the coding of the 435 audio/videotapes, additional feeding guidelines based on research derived from this study will be incorporated into these key messages so that substantive research informs these important tips for parents.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 03/01/07 to 02/29/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The USDA NRI grant entitled Feeding Patterns, Dietary Intake, and Overweight in Minority Families with Preschoolers will complete Year 2 on February 29, 2008. One year of data has been collected including videotapes, live observational coding, and digital photography of 3 dinner meals with each family, and parent-report questionnaires. To date, we have completed data collection on 25 African-American families (a total of 75 observations) and 37 Hispanic families (a total of 111 observations). In short, we have completed 186 observations on 62 Head Start families. With additional funding from Kraft Industries, the data collection will continue for another year. Digital photographs have been taken on the caregiver and child for each of the 186 observations. Recipes for each observed meal have been taken and entered into NDS. Reference pictures are being taken for each food at the Metabolic Research Unit at the Children's Nutrition Research Center for use in estimating the
amount of food placed on the plates at the beginning of the meals. Ultimately, nutrient content, energy density, and gram amount of original portion sizes served to the caregiver and child will be available. Videotapes taken during each home observation are being cataloged and available for coding. Plans for Year 3 include piloting a coding system to determine bi-directional interactions between caregiver and child which include parental facial expressions, verbal cues, and modeling of food eaten during the dinner meals.
PARTICIPANTS: Suzie Goodell PhD, who has her doctorate in nutrition, is a postdoctoral fellow at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Goodell has been instrumental in developing the bi-directional coding system to be used with the videotapes in this study. The coding system incorporates caregiver modeling, facial expressions, and verbal cues into an interactional model of feeding to determine the impact of parental directives on the eating behaviors of children. This information will be used to develop a theoretical model for behavior change.
Impacts
The use of digital photography is being developed as a valid and reliable tool to measure portion sizes of caregiver and child in an unobtrusive way in the home. The bi-directional coding system is being developed as an observational tool to be used as an in-depth examination of parent-child interactions that may lead to problematic eating patterns in children. The live global coding system that is being used in this study will determine the emotional climate of family meals in African-American and Hispanic families and will be available for use with other ethnic groups. The information derived from this study will be helpful in developing tailored family interventions to curb the overweight epidemic in children.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 03/01/06 to 03/01/07
Outputs
The USDA NRI Grant 2006-55215-16695 entitled Feeding Patterns, Dietary Intake, and Overweight in Minority Families with Preschoolers completed Year 1. During the first half of Year 1, eight staff members were hired, trained, and certified. A masters level nutritionist was trained to coordinate the observation teams and oversee all dietary intake. Two African-Americans, two European-Americans, and three Hispanics (bi-lingual) make up the observation teams. All staff members were trained and certified for the following: 1) conducting home observations, 2) global coding of the emotional climate of the dinner meal, 3) behavioral coding of feeding practices during the meal, 4) videotaping the dinner meal using two cameras for split-screen, 5) conducting digital photos of dinner plates for use in estimating food served, 6) measuring plate waste, 7) obtaining recipes for each family meal, and 8) instructing parents for parent-report measures. A total of 105 potential parents
have been recruited. Pilot testing included 10 families with 1 observation each. For the main study, 10 African-American families have been observed with 26 observations and 19 Hispanic families have been observed with 56 observations. In total, we have completed 92 observations on 39 families. A workshop was recently conducted at CYFAR in Chicago, IL which included videotaped segments from our study for use in training professionals regarding effective food parenting with preschoolers. Ongoing data collection will be conducted during the second year of the study. We obtained additional funding to double the sample size of the main study to 240 families with 3 observations each.
Impacts
It is expected that the data obtained from this study will help us understand how the emotional climate of the dinner meal impacts children's food consumption in low-income ethnic populations. This understaning will allow researchers to develop effective programs to teach low-income parents the most positive way to interact with their children during meals so that children's nutritional needs are met and healthy weight is maintained. Teaching parents these positive interactions when children are at a young age may support the maintenance of appropriate weight during childhood.
Publications
- Swanson MA, Hughes SO. Understaning the Shared Parent-Child Feeding Environment. Workshop presented at the Children, Youth and Families At Risk Conference. Chicago, IL, May 1-4, 2007.
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